SEARCHLIGHT

  SEPTEMBER 29, 2023 Luke 12:35 – 40 35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”   Have you ever experienced God’s presence in a surprising way? What were the circumstances? How did that impact you? One of the great realities of our faith walk is th

  SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 1 Corinthians 10:31- 32a 31  So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.   32  Do not cause anyone to stumble ….   In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul writes, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the church of God—even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.” Paul reminds us that we are responsible for our actions and our words toward God and toward others. It is a privilege that we get to do life with others in community, and part of that privilege comes with the responsibility of showing love to our neighbors and not causing them to stumble in any way. Just because we have the freedom to do many things, it does not mean that everything we could do will glorify Christ. We should be considerate of our actions and our words and consider if they are truly

  SEPTEMBER 27, 2023   Romans 14:1-13 14 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. 5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we

  SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 Romans 5:1-11 5  Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace [ a ]  with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.   2  Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. 3  We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.   4  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.   5  And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. 6  When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.   7  Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is esp

  SEPTEMBER 25, 2023   Titus 1:4    “May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you grace and peace.”       I believe of all the things we could ever desire for someone, or of all the ways we could say what you genuinely want another to experience, to form a sentence to offer someone encouragement; these words that Paul uses to open his letter to Titus might just be one of the most reassuring sentences we could offer.   May God, give you grace and peace. Now these words, may have been written a long time ago, but they are still a powerful inspiration for us today.    Grace - may you find favor with God. Peace - may you feel calm today, even in the midst of chaos.   I just want to say, that whatever you’re facing today, whatever is “heavy” on your mind right now, whatever worry, uncertainty, or fear you may have; remember it is no match for the grace and peace of God.   Our faith in Jesus Christ is well placed, for he alone is the savior of the world, h

  SEPTEMBER 22, 2023  Ephesians 2:14a For he himself is our peace...   Paul starts with a definition of what true peace really is. True peace is solidarity. It is not merely the end of hostility, the absence of conflict; it means being one. Anything else is artificial and short-lived and generally rather inadequate. I believe we know this is true. At times haven’t we made “peace” on superficial terms only to find it short lived and external? For example, if we merely agree not to fight, it is not peace. We know this because regularly, in our experience, such agreements result in some new eruption of conflict. That is why “peace pacts” among nations never seem to last, because it isn't really peace. It isn't oneness at all. It is only an agreement to stop it for awhile. In today’s reading Ephesians tells us the secret of lasting peace. The secret of solidarity is a Person: he himself is our peace, we read. When Christ Jesus makes peace, between individuals or between nat

 SEPTEMBER 21, 2023 Ephesians 2:4-6 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus...   Here we have the foundational truth of Christianity stated right here: We are made alive together with Christ. Notice that Paul says “with Christ” three times: We are made alive with Christ. We are raised up with Christ. We are made to sit with Christ. Jesus has come to live in us, and He has joined himself to us, and we are one with Him. That is the most important truth upon which to build all the rest of the Christian experience upon. This great, statement is the sure foundation that we are made alive with Jesus Christ. Do you remember how the Jesus taught this truth? He said, I am the vine; you are the branches (John 15:5a). It is difficult to identify  where the branch

  SEPTEMBER 20, 2023   Ephesians 1:18-19 18  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,   19  and his incomparably great power for us who believe.   The eyes of the heart is a strange expression, isn't it? Eyes are the organ by which we observe things. The mind also has eyes. If you listen to truth in any area, the eyes of your mind are grasping ideas. But the apostle tells us here that not only does the mind have eyes, but the heart as well. The heart needs to see things, needs to grasp truth, and understand it. In Scripture, you may know this, the heart is always used to represent the center or "core" of our being, the place from which prayer and moral actions originate. The heart is also the place where you have your will, your attitude, and intentions, and which is the source of your thoughts, actions, and words. So, the Apo

 SEPTEMBER 19, 2023 Ephesians 1:3-14 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out e

  SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 Ephesians 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.   SALUTATIONS   This greeting is the shortest in any of Paul's letters, however brief it is, it includes three simple but important things that we should note.  First, Paul's credentials : Notice how he describes himself, an apostle... by the will of God. An apostle was one sent with a message. And, as he tells us in his letter to the Galatians, the Lord Jesus appeared to him directly. Paul did not learn what he knew about the gospel by discussing it with the other apostles. The truth that he imparts to readers he learned directly from Jesus Christ, and that is his authority. Therefore, it is a good thing for us to remember that when you read Paul’s writings you are reading an approved, called representative of Jesus. (See Acts 9) Paul was always amazed by the fact

 September 15, 2023 Judges 6:11-16 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the LORD is with you!” “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The LORD brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” The LORD said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were figh

  September 14, 2023   Genesis 12:1-4 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.   Genesis 17:1-9 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.” At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him, “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! What’s more, I am changin

  September 13, 2023   Joshua 1:1-9  After the death of Moses the LORD’s servant, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. “ Be strong and courageous , for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from t

 SEPTEMBER 12, 2023 Jeremiah 29:1-14 This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said: This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.

  September 11, 2023 Matthew 6:33-34 NLT Seek the Kingdom of God above all else , and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today   Matthew 22:34-40 NLT But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”   Romans 12:2 NLT Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way